Here is chapter three of my story! I've already written out chapter thirteen, but I need at least one review per chapter to post the next one after. ;) I know these chapters are a little slow right now, but believe me, they're going to pick up after the next two chapters. I hope you enjoy my newest chapter, and please review! I really appreciate reviews, as I don't seem to get many of them! Oh, and I may not post the next chapter until after Christmas. (I wonder why? Perhaps like everyone else, I'll be too busy. :D) Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

-Shire from CollieandShire


Chapter Three

Ilene's Dream

When the two DunBroch princesses arrived back at the castle, they found their family already seated around the table enjoying their evening meal. Their father, King Fergus DunBroch, was in the middle of his favorite past-time: storytelling.

But as usual, the DunBroch triplets, Hamish, Harris and Hubert, were not listening. They'd heard their father's tales a thousand times, and were plain bored of them. Ilene and Merida scooted into their seats quietly as they listened to their father tell the tale of the battle of the Scotsmen and the Englishmen.

"There I was, heading the greatest army those English snobs had ever seen, chargin' on me horse, screaming at the top of my lungs. The English general, one by the name of Lord Edward of London, drew his sword and charged 'is horse towards me, silent as a hawk swooping in on its prey. We clashed swords, swinging mightily at each other, both of us determined to win. Lord Edward leapt off his horse and tackled me to the ground, and thus began the greatest wrestling match the world has ever seen!"

"Except when Mum and Mo'rdu fought." Ilene corrected, sitting silently until now.

"Aye, except when Elinor and Mo'rdu fought." Fergus agreed. "That was a sight to behold."

"I didn't even see you two come in!" Elinor exclaimed, looking up from her meal. "You two were as quiet as mice, a rare up-taking indeed!"

Merida and Ilene giggled. "We wanted to hear the story." Ilene explained.

"What did you girls do today?" Elinor asked, thinking about mentioning to the girls that their choice in foods wasn't very healthy, (Ilene had grabbed two large slabs of steak, and Merida had picked out her favorite kind of meal, dessert) but, deciding they were old enough to learn from their own consequences, she remained silent.

"We went to the gland an' practiced archery and fencing." Merida said.

"Yah, and Mystery and I beat Merida and Angus in a race!" Ilene added in.

"You did not! You and yer horse cheated!" Merida protested, glaring at her younger sister. Ilene laughed.

"Aye, but like I said earlier, it was ye who forgot to let me know the rules."

"You just wait, in a fair race Angus would be Mystery any ol' day!" Merida challenged.

"I'll race ye, and you'll see that Mystery is the fastest horse in the land!"

"Aye, you lassies will race." Fergus interrupted. "But it will be a fair race, one that I will plot out meself."

"Ye mean that you'll set up a race, a real proper race, for us?" the girls squealed at the same time. "Thank you Dad!"

"We'll make a day out of it!" Fergus announced. "The race between Merida and Ilene, to prove whose horse is the fastest. The whole DunBroch clan shall be invited, they shall!"

"Really!" Merida and Ilene leapt up from their chairs and shouted. "Oh Dad, yer the most wonderful Dad in all of Scotland!" Merida sang out.

"Well, if you two are going to be competing in a race, we'll have to make some sort of prize for the winner." Elinor said with a smile. "What kind of prize do you think should be awarded, Fergus?"

"A weapon." He said, his eyes twinkling. Elinor glared at him. "Just kidding."

"I should hope so. Goodness knows they already have enough weapons to arm an entire army!" Elinor said, a little disapprovingly. She understood now that a bow and a sword were needed for survival in the woods of Scotland, and she allowed the girls to practice their weaponry skills. Still, she felt a little wary of two princesses owning weapons, wondering what the English royalty would think if they ever heard the Scottish royalty were allowed weapons, even the girls. Oh well, it doesn't really matter. She thought. What matters is the girls need to know survival skills, and they have learned those indeed. But, she decided, they didn't need any more weapons than the ones they already had. Those were plenty enough.

"Perhaps we should have a garland of roses to put around the winning horse's neck." Ilene suggested.

"Phewy, that's what the English racers do!" Merida scoffed. "We don't want to be like any English racers, we be Scottish, born and bred! No, we must think of something different."

"Merida is right, that's tradition in England." Fergus observed. "Perhaps the winner's horse can have a crown of roses placed on its head."

"That would be unique." Elinor commented. "I don't believe I've ever heard of a crown of roses placed on a horse's head."

"Dad," Merida said, her eyes glimmering with excitement, "If we're going to make a day of it, perhaps we should invite the other clans to participate? Have them put forth their best rider and horse, winner takes all! Except this time I will compete legally."

What Merida was referring to was that when the oldest sons of the other clans had come to compete for her hand in marriage, Merida herself entered into the contest and beat them all, which defied tradition in every way. That had nearly ended in disaster, but thanks to her mother the matter had been cleared up and the Lords of the other three clans had gone away happy.

"Now there's an idea!" Fergus said in thought. "Sure! Why not? I can't see any harm in it. It's just a friendly competition."

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, Fergus." Elinor said, troubled. "You know how you and the Lords can get."

"I promise upon my sword that I will not fight with the Lords, even if they ask for it. Which they usually do." Fergus vowed. Elinor rolled her eyes.

"Please, Mum? It would be so exciting to have a full out race!" Ilene pleaded.

Elinor glanced from one of her daughters to the other one, seeing the eagerness in their eyes to compete in their very first race. "Very well, we'll invite the other clans to put forth their best riders and horses." She said, smoothing her dress.

"Thank you Mum!" the girls cried, running over and hugging their Mum.

"You're very welcome." She told them. "Now go and feed your horses, I'm sure their hungry from their long ride today."

"Yes Mum!" with that, the girls ran out through the servant's quarters and towards the stalls, giggling and leaping with joy.

"Oye, Ilene, isn't this exciting?" Merida asked between leaps.

"It is indeed! To think, we'll compete in a real race! I bet Mystery will win." Ilene couldn't help but put in that last bit, a teasing look in her eyes.

"Don't count on it, Ilene." Merida said with a grin. "Come race day, Angus and I will be in such good shape no one will stand a chance against us!"

"We shall see." Ilene said, grabbing a pitchfork and going towards Mystery's stall. Mystery nickered at the sight of her as she forked up six leaves of hay and threw it into her feed trough. Merida forked the same amount and threw it to Angus, who chomped on the hay as soon as it was in his trough. Merida glanced from her horse, a large, black Clydesdale stallion with four white stockings and a white blaze, to Ilene's horse, a giant Shire mare that was completely black except for a white question mark on her forehead and one white cornet band on her left hind foot. Both horses were beautiful, kind and gentle, and both horses had their quirks. Angus could be stubborn, and Mystery had a bad habit of kicking at other horses, particularly male horses. Even with their bad habits, the girls loved their mounts dearly, and couldn't imagine life without them.

"Merida." Ilene spoke, poking her head from the stall that she was now cleaning. "Do you ever wonder what yer fate would have been if ye hadn't set out to change it?"

Merida straightened up and leaned against the pitchfork she was using to clean Angus's stall. "Mum says we can't change fate, no matter how hard we try. I set out to change me fate, but even though I thought I could change it, I was really doing exactly what my fate was. We can't change are fate, our futures are already written out. The books on our lives are already written, and we're just now discovering more and more of our stories. I suppose then, that the answer to your question is that I didn't change me fate, I just followed it."

Ilene was quiet as she finished cleaning Mystery's stall and putting the pitchfork away. "Merida, can I tell ye something I've never told anyone?" Ilene said suddenly.

"I'm listening." Merida replied as she also finished cleaning Angus's stall and put her pitchfork away.

"I keep having this dream, over and over again." Ilene began, sitting down on a hay bale. "It starts out that I'm in a forest, but it is not our own forest, but a strange one. I am standing there, and a man I've never seen before walks up to me. 'Who are ye?' I ask. 'My dear Ilene, don't you know me?' he replies. He is sad, but I don't know why. 'I'm sorry, m'Lord, but I don't know who you are.' I reply, bowing before him. Somehow I knew he was of royal blood. 'Ilene, oh, Ilene! Come back to me!' he calls, stretching his hands out to me. I step back from him, and I am afraid. His voice is strange, for he is not a Scotsman nor is he an Englishman. I don't know what he is, perhaps he is a Northerner. 'I can't come to you if I don't know you.' I say to him, continuing to back up. 'But you do know me, Ilene, you do!' he wails. I start to run away from him, terrified. He chases after me, and tackles me to the ground. 'Let me go!' I cry. 'Let me go!'

'Ilene! Remember Lord Edward! He knows who I am!' I kick him, hard, and he releases me, and I run away. 'Lord Edward knows me! He will tell you who I am!' I continue to run until I cannot see him anymore, and then I stop to catch my breath. Suddenly a shadow falls upon me, and I turn and scream as I stare at a sign. It fills me with terror, and I collapse and double over, trying to hide from the sign. I cry out in fear as a different man than before steps from the sign, a sword in his hand. 'Ilene.' He growls, and he swings his sword at me to kill me-and then I wake up."

Merida stared at her younger sister, who was looking at the ground, a stray tear falling from her eye. "It scares me, Merida. It scares me. I don't understand what it means, and yet this isn't the first time I've had this dream." Ilene wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced at Merida. "Ye don't think I'm crazy, do you?"

"No Ilene, I don't." Merida assured her. "But what was the sign? Why were you afraid of the sign?"

Ilene turned her gaze to the sky, furrowing her brow as she watched a flock of ducks fly over. "It was an animal, but not like any animal I've ever seen." She said slowly. "It was like a white bear with black stripes! But it had a long tail, and pointy ears. I have never seen anything like it. It filled me with terror, though, and I was afraid of it. It was-it was evil."

"And why Lord Edward, the man from Dad's story? Why did the man say 'Lord Edward knows me?'?" Merida inquired.

"That I think is from listening to too many of Dad's stories about the evil 'Lord Edward.'" Ilene said, a grin coming to her face. "This isn't the first dream I had where Lord Edward made an appearance."

"I know! I've had many a dream of him trying to fight with me!" Merida said with a laugh. Ilene joined in, and the laughed together. When they quieted down, Merida turned to Ilene. "Ilene, you said this isn't the first time you've had this dream." Merida prompted. Ilene nodded. "When do you have this dream?"

"Every time I've gotten sick I've had this dream." Ilene told her. "Ye remember that I was sick three weeks ago, right? I had the most terrible fever, and I had that dream. I've had it every time I've been sick, and I always wake up crying. Mum comforts me and tells me it's alright, but it is such a strange dream that it haunts me for nights after that."

"Well, if you only have it when you're sick, than I don't think it's something you should worry about!" Merida exclaimed. "I have this one dream every time I'm sick. It's about me standing on top of the castle with a really tight dress on, and I slip and fall and I grab the edge of the castle. But since I had such a tight dress on I couldn't climb up the wall, and I fall to my death below."

Ilene couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. "Just like ye to have a dream 'bout wearing a dress that kills you!" she howled. Merida laughed with her.

"Don't worry about it, Ilene." Merida said after they finished laughing again. "I'm sure it's just a meaningless nightmare."

Ilene nodded, and hugged Merida. "Thanks, Merida." She said. Merida hugged her back. "Merida?"

"Yes."

"Promise me you'll never tell anyone about this dream." Ilene sounded so desperate, that even though Merida thought her dream meant nothing, she promised.

"I promise, as long as you promise never to tell Mum it was I who ate the cranberry sauce she cooked three days ago."

Ilene laughed heartily.


And there you have it! Remember the sign in Ilene's dream, as it's going to be important later. ;) Just thought I'd give you that heads up. Please review! I really really REALLY love reviews!

-Shire